Bush's FY06 Budget for the Peace CorpsThe White House is proposing $345 Million for the Peace Corps for FY06 - a $27.7 Million (8.7%) increase that would allow at least two new posts and maintain the existing number of volunteers at approximately 7,700. Bush's 2002 proposal to double the Peace Corps to 14,000 volunteers appears to have been forgotten. The proposed budget still needs to be approved by Congress.

Peace Corps Census up for Second Straight Year to highest level in 29 years

Read and comment on this story from the Peace Corps that the annual census of Peace Corps Volunteers in the field is up for the second straight year. This year the annual census, conducted every year at the end of the government's fiscal year on September 30, is at 7,733 - up 200 from 2003. This number represents the highest number of Americans serving in the Peace Corps in 29 years.

What is most encouraging though is that the number of applications to join the Peace Corps is up ten percent from a year ago. Now the Peace Corps has everything in place to expand in the future once a higher budget is provided.

Congratulations to the Peace Corps for a good year in a tough budgetary environment. Now let's make convincing Congress to increase the Peace Corps budget a top priority for 2005. Read the story at:

*This link was active on the date it was posted. PCOL is not responsible for broken links which may have changed.

Highest Number of Americans Serving in the Peace Corps in 29 Years

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 29, 2004 – Continuing on a trend that has seen volunteers in the field steadily increase over the past two years, Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez is proud to announce a marked increase in Americans serving overseas as Peace Corps volunteers.

The official count for 2004 – taken every year on September 30 for consistency – is 7,733 Peace Corps volunteers serving in 71 countries. This number is up from 7,533 volunteers serving in 2003, representing the highest number of Americans serving in the Peace Corps in 29 years.

"Peace Corps volunteers are to be commended, as it is their dedication that continues to make the Peace Corps relevant today," said Director Vasquez. "The Peace Corps would not be able to achieve these record numbers without the spirit of giving that exemplifies the Peace Corps volunteer."

Applications to the Peace Corps also continue to rise, as nearly 11,000 citizens have applied to become volunteers since the start of 2004. This represents an increase of 10 percent over the same period last year, indicating that the recruitment campaign, "Life is Calling. How Far Will You Go?" continues to resonate with Americans.

Adding to the increase of volunteers and applicants and in keeping with one of the Peace Corps’ three goals – to help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served – the Peace Corps continues its efforts to attract a volunteer corps reflecting the extraordinary diversity of America.

As an example, the Peace Corps, in partnership with the American Association of Community Colleges, launched its first major concentrated effort specifically targeting community college graduates earlier this year. Community colleges in many ways exemplify the diversity of the U.S. culture and therefore offer an important source of diverse applicants for Peace Corps service. As well, community college graduates have the necessary experience and occupational and technical skills to respond to the critical needs of countries.

In addition to the traditional recruitment campaigns on mainstream college campuses, the Peace Corps has developed partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic Serving Institutes. Likewise, the Peace Corps is also reaching out to the Retired Teachers Association and the American Association of Retired Persons in order to tap into the talent pool of retired Americans.

While the number of volunteers in the field reaches a record high, so does the caliber of volunteer. This year, 97 percent of volunteers have at least a bachelor's degree, with 13 percent having a master's degree. Seniors age 50 and over represent 6 percent of volunteers, with the average age of a volunteer being 28 years, and the oldest volunteer turning 82 this month. The number of minorities in the field is 15 percent.

Read our story from last year: November 20, 2003 - Peace Corps Volunteer Numbers Reach Record High

Read and comment on this Peace Corps Press Release that the annual Peace Corps census conducted on September 30 shows that the total number of volunteers in the field is 7,533 - the largest number of volunteers to serve overseas since 1974.

The census on September 30, 2002 was 6,636 volunteers so there has been a 15% increase in the past year. Keep in mind however, that the 2002 number was lower than expected due to the evacuation of hundreds of volunteers from Central Asia after 911, the removal of volunteers from Zimbabwe and Madagascar, and the withdrawal of trainees who were to go to Russia. The figure for 2001 was 6,643 and the figure for 2000 (which can be considered a baseline) was 7,164 volunteers in the field. So the present level is about 6% above the baseline - still an impressive performance that has required a lot of hard work to recover from two "bad" years - 2001 and 2002 with the opening of new programs in Fiji, Swaziland, Albania, Chad, and Azerbaijan to offset volunteers evacuated from Jordan, Morocco, China and the Ivory Coast.

What this means is that it will be difficult for the Peace Corps to meet the President's growth goal, first proposed in his State of the Union Address in February, 2002, of doubling the number of volunteers in the Field to 14,000 by 2007. Peace Corps expansion depends on many factors: the number of countries where the agency has programs, the number of volunteers in each country, having the infrastructure in place to support recruitment, placement, training and volunteer support, and having funds available to pay for it all. Some of these factors are outside the agency's control; e.g. volunteer density in any particular country cannot be increased past a certain point without affecting the quality of programs and the volunteer experience and there have already been concerns raised about this issue on some RPCV listservs. But the primary limiting factor in growth is going to be funding. Doubling the number of volunteers will require an annual growth rate of 15% over a five year period and that growth will not be sustainable without higher budgets from Congress.

The Conference Committee report that just came out of Congress has an appropriation of $325M for the Peace Corps for FY2004, a 10% increase over the FY2003 budget of $297M. There is no reason to believe, given current deficits and the budget climate in the foreseeable future, that the Peace Corps can reasonably expect annual increases in excess of the 10% figure. In fact, the Peace Corps will probably have to fight a yearly battle to maintain a 10% annual budget increase. With 10% annual growth, it will take seven years to reach the President's goal of doubling the Peace Corps rather than five.

Still the Peace Corps can be very proud of their numbers for this year - it is a big accomplishment for the Peace Corps to increase volunteers in the field by almost 1,000 in one year and we extend our congratulations to the Peace Corps and to Director Gaddi Vasquez on this big step. This accomplishment has demonstrated that Peace Corps expansion is not only possible but is actually being accomplished one step at a time. The next Director of the Peace Corps will have a significant challenge to sustain the budget growth, increase the number of programs, maintain program quality and the quality of the volunteer experience, continue infrastructure upgrades at the agency, and address the Safety and Security issues that were highlighted in the recent series by the Dayton Daily News. Read the story at:

*This link was active on the date it was posted. PCOL is not responsible for broken links which may have changed.

Peace Corps’ Volunteer Numbers Reach Record High

Largest Number of Americans Serving in 28 Years

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 18, 2003 – Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez is honored to announce that 7,533 Americans are currently serving in the Peace Corps – the largest number of volunteers to serve overseas since 1974. The Peace Corps just verified the numbers after it completed its annual official count on September 30th.

From May to October, nearly 3,000 new Peace Corps trainees arrived at posts worldwide. In September alone, approximately 1,240 trainees arrived in 32 countries ranging in locations from Africa, Asia, Europe, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific.

Specifically, volunteers have arrived in Fiji, Swaziland, Albania, Chad, and Azerbaijan, which are all beginning new Peace Corps programs this year. The Peace Corps also plans on returning volunteers to China and Jordan in 2004.

“The significant number of new trainees in the field and new applicants are enormous indicators that Americans are more willing than ever to dedicate two years of their life to serve others around the globe,” stated Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez. “With Peace Corps’ new recruiting campaign in full swing this fall, we anticipate that new volunteer interest will continue to climb.”

This September, approximately 1,030 Americans applied to the Peace Corps - a 27 percent increase from 2002. From May to September of this year, the Peace Corps also experienced a 16 percent increase in the number of applications received over the same months last year. With increasing requests for applications, a record number of Americans are heeding President Bush’s call to service.

Click on a link below for more stories on PCOL

When this story was posted in November 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:

The Birth of the Peace CorpsUMBC's Shriver Center and the Maryland Returned Volunteers hosted Scott Stossel, biographer of Sargent Shriver, who spoke on the Birth of the Peace Corps. This is the second annual Peace Corps History series - last year's speaker was Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn.

Charges possible in 1976 PCV slayingCongressman Norm Dicks has asked the U.S. attorney in Seattle to consider pursuing charges against Dennis Priven, the man accused of killing Peace Corps Volunteer Deborah Gardner on the South Pacific island of Tonga 28 years ago. Background on this story here and here.

Kerry reaches out to Returned VolunteersThe Kerry campaign wants the RPCV vote. Read our interview with Dave Magnani, Massachusetts State Senator and Founder of "RPCVs for Kerry," and his answers to our questions about Kerry's plan to triple the size of the Peace Corps, should the next PC Director be an RPCV, and Safety and Security issues. Then read the "RPCVs for Kerry" statement of support and statements by Dr. Robert Pastor, Ambassador Parker Borg, and Paul Oostburg Sanz made at the "RPCVs for Kerry" Press Conference.

RPCV Carl Pope says the key to winning this election is not swaying undecided voters, but persuading those already willing to vote for your candidate to actually go to the polls.

Director Gaddi Vasquez: The PCOL InterviewPCOL sits down for an extended interview with Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez. Read the entire interview from start to finish and we promise you will learn something about the Peace Corps you didn't know before.

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